AHRQ Guide Helps Stakeholders Get Involved in Research Process

In 2005 the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) launched the Effective Health Care (EHC) Program, a federal initiative that compares the effectiveness of different health care interventions and services and translates research findings into practical decision making guides for clinicians, consumers, and policymakers. To facilitate stakeholder involvement, AHRQ recently released a guide that reviews the purpose and the structure of the EHC Program, outlines the program's activities, and describes opportunities for participation, which include nominating topics, refining key research questions, participating on technical expert panels to provide advice on research methodology, identifying priorities for future research, commenting on draft reports, helping translate research reports into decision making guides, and disseminating results. The agency says it also may be useful for anyone who is interested in using AHRQ reports and wants a better understanding of the research conducted by the EHC Program.